The provision of adequate and practical storage space in vehicles has been a great challenge to automobile designers since the early days of motoring. Early vehicles provided only room for the driver and one or more passengers and whatever they could hold in their laps or place on the vehicle floor. Some vehicles had small storage areas under the rear seat. Occasionally vehicles were fitted with external trunks, initially in the form of wicker baskets and later having solid fiberboard walls. Once running boards appeared on vehicles accessory demountable luggage racks became available to hold one or more pieces of luggage. Some early cars, such as the Ford Model T Runabout, had small trunks (or “turtle decks”) that usually could hold little more than the driver's lunch, some tools, and a few spare parts. (Some early vehicles were truck models that ordinarily offered a large, uncovered area for storage. Such storage areas, while large, were not practical for all applications. The same situation exists today.)
As the motor vehicle developed two models began to appear, the station wagon and the sedan. The rear area of the station wagon was often designed to include an extra seat or two for children but was otherwise used for storage. The sedan (or convertible) had a trunk designed for the storage of the vehicle spare tire and any goods the operator wanted to move.
While other vehicle body styles are now common, such as the sport utility vehicle, one problem persists, and that is the inefficient use of storage space. This is primarily the case in the typical sedan (or convertible). While trunk storage space is often large the entire area is rarely used. When the trunk floor is filled with goods any additional goods are simply—and often impractically—piled one-atop the other over the goods on the trunk floor.
Accordingly, as in so many areas of vehicle technology, there is room in the art of vehicle trunk design for an alternative and practical configuration that would allow more efficient and complete use of the area of the vehicle trunk.